What are the chances a house sale will fall through? | Quick Move Now

Sharp rise in the house sale fall through rate to one quarter (25.02%) in Q3 2013, up from one fifth (19.77%) in Q2 2013

Long term trend from 2008 remains a steady decline

The majority of house sale fall throughs in Q3 were caused by mortgage or finance related issues

The average house sale fall through rate for Q3 2013 was 25.02%, similar to the corresponding quarter in 2012 (27.21%).

Donna Houguez, Market Analyst at Quick Move Now, comments:

The fall through index is a barometer of misplaced confidence – made up primarily of those who make an offer on a property and then fail to secure mortgage finance.

The trend over the last couple of years, particularly in the latter half of 2012 and the start of 2013, was for people to take more caution, agreeing mortgages in principle before making offers, and that is the main reason why we saw a reduction in the fall through rate.

The mood in the property market and widely reported by the press has been buoyant lately and this is reflected in the sharp rise in fall throughs that weâ€™ve seen since March 2013.

The Help to Buy scheme and warnings of an impending house price bubble, among other things, have increased the demand to buy property, and as people try to get onto the housing ladder or make their next move before prices increase, they are rushing to make offers that they cannot honour.

I expect to see this settle as the rush of people trying to buy before the perceived impending price hike happens reduces and as Help to Buy lending filters through the market.

Quick Move Now provides one-of-its-kind data to property analysts to help with assessment of the housing market.

Data calculation: Quick Move Now sells hundreds of properties each year and the fall through statistics are calculated month-on-month using a six-month average. In reality, the fall through rate for homeowners would be approximately 10 – 15% higher as Quick Move Now has a professional resale team proactively managing the completion process.